[Abyss]

stone monkey, on 10 November 2010 - 09:54 PM, said:

amphibian, on 09 November 2010 - 03:45 PM, said:

Quicksilver has perhaps the toughest beginning of a Stephenson book to get sucked in. Waterhouse Sr. isn't exactly an enthralling character to initially seize upon. I'm glad you liked it and kept going. It gets even better - a LOT better.

In the past I've said that Quicksilver probably doesn't even work properly as a novel; ...

The thing keeping me away from the BAROQUE trilo is that it seems to be primarily three massive volumes of the things i liked least about CRYPTO'N.

Which is bothersome because i realy enjoyed SNOW CRASH, AGE and parts of CRYPTO. Having the same problem with ANATHEM tho i'm told it's substantially different for a Stephenson novel.

ansible, on 11 November 2010 - 08:06 PM, said:

Agreed about NoK, better on a reread. I actually found it fairly thought-provoking this time around. I also found TBH to be even more of a companion to NoK than I did before. I don't understand SE/ICE's recommendation to read it after GotM.
...

I suspect it amounts to GotM being the intended intro to the world. I go back and forth on whether NoK makes for a better intro. It's hard to be onbective since i read it just prior to TBG and couldn't contemplate not knowing who the handful of characters from NoK were, even tho' their roles are beyond minor.

Salt-Man Z, on 11 November 2010 - 09:40 PM, said:

... Plus, a newbie on the fence about continuing the series definitely should read DG over NoK.

Have to agree with that. DG is a superior book and more likely to draw the fenced reader in.


Am presently halfway thru TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT and enjoying it immensely.

Post TOWERS i will probably just go back temporarily to Sterling's DISTRACTION since STONEWIELDER and SIDE JOBS are due to appear this month. DIST'N is a good enough book but easy to put aside and return to.

[Mentalist]

I have finished Tchaikovsky's 4th "Shadow of the Apt" book --Salute the Dark.

Morgoth, who is the principal hater of the series on these boards will be happy to know that the author finally noticed his criticism about people not dying. Oh, did he ever.

The death toll is quite easily comparable to that of GGRM Storm of Swords. Also, lots of action, and the man does know how to write a good battle.
His characters have developed well (except for Cheerwell, but she gets almost no pages to herself, so it's all good). And the ending seemed quite fitting.

That being said, there's already a book 5 out. that one i'm not sure of, I think i'd let the story end where it was, but meh.

now, I'm reading Canticle by Ken Scholes. 3 chapters in, liking it, but no greatness yet.

[QuickTidal]

Just got Jimmy Palmiotti & Amanda Conner's 2nd trade of DC's POWER GIRL "Aliens & Apes", which I'll probably blast through in an hour. I also have both THE GHOST BRIGADES by John Scalzi and THE PATH OF DAGGERS by Jordan on deck.

[Morgoth]

Mentalist, on 13 November 2010 - 07:38 PM, said:

I have finished Tchaikovsky's 4th "Shadow of the Apt" book --Salute the Dark.

Morgoth, who is the principal hater of the series on these boards will be happy to know that the author finally noticed his criticism about people not dying. Oh, did he ever.

The death toll is quite easily comparable to that of GGRM Storm of Swords. Also, lots of action, and the man does know how to write a good battle.
His characters have developed well (except for Cheerwell, but she gets almost no pages to herself, so it's all good). And the ending seemed quite fitting.

That being said, there's already a book 5 out. that one i'm not sure of, I think i'd let the story end where it was, but meh.

now, I'm reading Canticle by Ken Scholes. 3 chapters in, liking it, but no greatness yet.

Isn't it supposed to be some 20 volumes or so? with another 25 to further milk it once the main story is done obviously.

If I have to slog through the collective battles of 4 books in order to see any character given face time die, I'll continue reading books that are good instead.

[Mentalist]

meh.
personal preferences cannot be accounted for. from Book 1, it was obvious that characterisation was the author's weakest spot. I did like the setting, and a number of themes that were set up in book 1. and further books (esp 3) introduced more themes to play around with, as well as a new setting which I liked.

to each his own.

[amphibian]

Abyss, on 12 November 2010 - 03:09 PM, said:

The thing keeping me away from the BAROQUE trilo is that it seems to be primarily three massive volumes of the things i liked least about CRYPTO'N.

Which is bothersome because i realy enjoyed SNOW CRASH, AGE and parts of CRYPTO. Having the same problem with ANATHEM tho i'm told it's substantially different for a Stephenson novel.

The Baroque Trilogy has within it waaaaaaaaaay more action than Snow Crash or Cryptonomicon. Half-Cocked Jack should legendary among literary characters for what he accomplished into those books alone - not to mention his "off-screen" history.

Anathem picks up considerably in pace and action once the monastery walls come down. Everything post-"monyafeek" is so blisteringly break-neck that it's hard to not go back over paragraphs and re-read them to truly understand what's going on. Profoundly entertaining ending, even if I had my problems with it.

[Morgoth]

And Snow Crash died two thirds into the book anyways and just became ridiculous. If I want to use an example of how info dumping sucks, I just point to Snow Crash

[Ulrik]

 Again Gemmell´s Legend... Serbitar fuck yeah! (and Orrin, Ulric, Antaheim, Hogun, Elicas, Bowman....) 

This post has been edited by Ulrik: 14 November 2010 - 09:45 PM

[Dolorous Menhir]

Abyss, on 12 November 2010 - 03:09 PM, said:

The thing keeping me away from the BAROQUE trilo is that it seems to be primarily three massive volumes of the things i liked least about CRYPTO'N.

Which is bothersome because i realy enjoyed SNOW CRASH, AGE and parts of CRYPTO. Having the same problem with ANATHEM tho i'm told it's substantially different for a Stephenson novel.

Which parts are those, Abyss? The storyline not set in the modern day?

Reading Foucalt's Pendulum. Dense. Resigned to not understanding a significant part of the references.

This post has been edited by Dolorous Menhir: 15 November 2010 - 08:02 PM

[Fist Gamet]

Well just finished The Dreaming Void by Hamilton and I am not sure how I feel about this. Part of me dislikes the direction he has taken the Commonwealth on, and I keep thinking it's very lazy of him to reintroduce several characters who have now been kicking around for some 1500 years in his books. Some parts are quite good, classic Hamilton Scifi but most of it I found very dull with flat, uninteresting characters. I am all for grounding the characters in every day life to make them personal and accessible and so on but I really don't want to read about a character becoming a property developer and all the daily details of the renovation of some flats...Overall I think he relied too heavily on his earlier creations in Pandora's Star and Juda Unchained.

Anyway, I think next up is probably The Quantum Thief...

[Morgoth]

@Fist Gamet - It doesn't get better.

@Dolores - Foucault's Pendulum is well worth the effort

This post has been edited by Morgoth: 16 November 2010 - 09:43 AM

[QuickTidal]

Currently Star Wars Fate Of The Jedi book 1 OUTCAST by Aaron Allston, and so far I am MUCH more impressed than I was with the Legacy of the Force series.

Probably due to

Spoiler

the absence of Jacen Solo/Darth Cadeus who has annoyed the shit out of me for years and deserved his death IMHO.

[Salt-Man Z]

FotJ is actually going to tackle some Jacen Solo/Caedus issues, which I thought were handled well. The main problem with the series so far is (after the first five books) is the draaaaagging out of any plot arc not including Luke and Ben. Oh, and having Daala be Chief of State is, of course, the height of ridiculousness; her character is handled amazingly inconsistently through the series.

This post has been edited by Salt-Man Z: 16 November 2010 - 04:04 PM

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Morgoth, on 16 November 2010 - 09:43 AM, said:

@Dolores - Foucault's Pendulum is well worth the effort

Seconded. In my opinion it's even better than The Name of the Rose. But then I love everything Eco writes.

[stone monkey]

Definitely. The DaVinci Code for grownups...

[Abyss]

Morgoth, on 14 November 2010 - 09:13 AM, said:

And Snow Crash died two thirds into the book anyways and just became ridiculous. If I want to use an example of how info dumping sucks, I just point to Snow Crash

I see your point except that i think it still works. Sure it goes over the top towards the end, but i thought that was part of the fun.

Dolorous Menhir, on 15 November 2010 - 08:01 PM, said:

Abyss, on 12 November 2010 - 03:09 PM, said:

The thing keeping me away from the BAROQUE trilo is that it seems to be primarily three massive volumes of the things i liked least about CRYPTO'N.

Which is bothersome because i realy enjoyed ... parts of CRYPTO. ...

Which parts are those, Abyss? The storyline not set in the modern day?
...

Actually no. I enjoyed the 1940s stuff way more than the modern story, which suffered from unnecessary tangents, pointless developments, random characters who added little to the story and the sort of info-dumping that Morgoth seems to suggest were problematic in SNOW CRASH, only with more technical detail and less cool shit.

QuickTidal, on 16 November 2010 - 03:18 PM, said:

Currently Star Wars Fate Of The Jedi book 1 OUTCAST by Aaron Allston, and so far I am MUCH more impressed ...

Allston's a solid author and I wish he could spend more time on original work rather than Star Wars. His Doc Sidhe series was a lot of fun.


TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT done, i have to admit DISTRACTION is barely distracting me. May read some graphic novels until STONEWEILDER gets here.

[Slow Ben]

Finished up Towers of Midnight and American Gods this week.

Towers was great. Gods was entertaining.

Starting SideJobs and FINALLY the Garret books.

[Toke]

I just finished Memories of Ice and planned to read something else than Malazan to keep things fresh. But alas, nothing seems to catch my interest. Tried to read Gilman's Thunderer but my mind was wandering in MoI all the time. Dark Tower comics did little better.

Perhaps I must stop fighting this and surrender to Steven Erikson once again.

[Abyss]

Toke, on 16 November 2010 - 06:20 PM, said:

I just finished Memories of Ice and planned to read something else than Malazan to keep things fresh. But alas, nothing seems to catch my interest. Tried to read Gilman's Thunderer but my mind was wandering in MoI all the time. Dark Tower comics did little better.

Perhaps I must stop fighting this and surrender to Steven Erikson once again.

Resistance is futile. Go read HOUSE OF CHAINS.

[Toke]

I hope Bauchelain and Korbal will give me the fresh break from the social-life-consuming epicness.